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Justice League - Paradise Lost

Justice League - Paradise Lost

List Price: $14.97
Your Price: $13.47
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: 5 stars for "Paradise Lost"; 1 star for "War World"
Review: The first installment benefits from its outstanding voiceover work from Susan Sullivan ("Hippolyta"), Robert Englund ("Felix Faust"), and John Rhys-Davies ("Hades), along with series regulars Susan Eisenberg ("Wonder Woman") and Michael Rosenbaum ("The Flash"). It also has a slam-bang finish featuring a battle between JLA and skeleton warriors called up by Hades. The fight is similar to Harryhausen's magnificently staged finale to "Jason and the Argonauts".

Unfortunately, this episode is paired with the worst episode of JLA's first season: "War World". There is very little noteworthy about this poorly written installment.

One might call it "Superman in Thunderdome".

There's just very little "lightning" around.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: At least the discs are being sped up
Review: The one piece of good news about this release is that WB is appearantly speeding up the production of its single disc releases, from 2/year to at least 3, and maybe even 4. The thing is, who really feels good about buying 3 seperate discs when most companies are releasing full seasons for a little over the cost of one and a half?

To add to that, the two story arcs on this disc again, highlight many strengths of the series that are unfortunately cancelled out by some blatant flaws. The first arc, Paradise Lost, focuses on the rather underused Wonder Woman as she returns home, only to find her mother and sisters frozen in stone. Wonder Woman then enlists the help of the rest of the League to combat the sorcerer Felix Faust and Lord Hades, who has been freed from Tartarus. Despite a stunning finale that truly represents the epic scope of the series (and voice work from the actors that've played Freddy Krueger and LotR's Gimli) and the emotional pathos it can accomplish, the first half suffers from a rather drawn out fight between Superman and Wonder Woman that seems to be a time filler. There are some plot holes, like why the best plan the League can think of is to give Faust the key to Hades' realm, then immediately try to get it back from him. And finally, Superman gets slapped down like a red-headed stepchild.

The other story arc, War World, is probably the worst arc of the season. Hyped as an episode meant to showcase Superman, the real star here is the slave warrior Draaga, who slips in out of nowhere to steal the spotlight off Superman.While this actually makes sense plotwise, it disappoints because Superman puts up a rather poor showing. Did he forget about super speed? Is his flight limited to hovering a few meters off the ground? Is he only allowed to use heat vision once before it has to recharge? The arc does, however, explore the interaction between Green Lantern and Hawkgirl, and also gives J'onn some rather funny moments.

By now everyone knows the "care" WB puts into these releases. Strong audio/video presentations aside (and that's only because JL is a recent show), expect limited extras and quickie featurettes. I'll give Timm credit though, he dishes out a lot of good information, and makes use of the limited time. If you bought the two previous DVDs, there's no reason not to buy this one, really. WB has confirmed that it won't do season sets, and the episodes here, overall, are about the same quality as the previous releases (even counting the disappointing War World). A JL set would be worth five stars. This single disc release is only worth two.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: 4 episodes doesn't cut it
Review: This DVD should include at least 6 episodes. Either come out with box sets or increase the number of episodes WB!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: One good story, one so-so, wrapped in mediocre presentation
Review: Two two-parters inhabit this disc, both (disappointingly) in Pan & Scan (aka full screen). The title two parter, "Paradise Lost" is strong, with a good story, animation and voice acting. The second (and weaker) two parter, "War World", is much as it was in the comics - a setting to make known characters get to lay the smack down. The presentations of the story are enhanced by the excellent Bruce Timm introductions - but a word of warning; if you haven't seen these episodes, watch his comments AFTERwards. Bruce always tends to give a bit of the story away. Another aggravating item - Chapter Stops are basically absent; for example, one must sit through (or fast forward) the full intro when watching each episode on the disc. A good stopgap until we someday get Season Boxed sets - in widescreen, please.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Hey WB !!! Put out the season box sets already!!!
Review: Warner Bros. has consistantly failed to please fans with their dvd releases of their animated series. They fail to recognize that Justice League as well as their Batman and Superman animated efforts were created not just for children but for adults as well. Yet they continue to market them for the kiddie market.It just demonstrates the short sightedness of their home ent. people. Come on now !!! The new Spiderman animated series on MTV is already being released as a season box set. Don't be stupid WB !!!!!!!!!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Pair of 2 Part Episodes! What a Bargain!
Review: Warner Bros. seems to have little clue about marketing their DC-based tv series. Whether's it Batman, Batman Beyond, Batman/Superman, or Justice League, they produced only substandard dvds to date. Now Justice League doesn't reach the level of some WB previous efforts, but it's far better than that sad excuse of a series, Teen Titans, now on Cartoon Network. I digress....

Anyway, I simply won't fork over money for this DVD containing a lousy pair of 2-part episodes. Come on, WB, either release season box sets or at least offer six episodes, which would be just over two hours in length. I suspect that some heads need to roll until WB realizes that they can both milk and nurture their fanbase, a win-win scenario for everyone. Until such a time, there's plenty else here at Amazon.com to satisfy everyone's DVD needs.....

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Pair of 2 Part Episodes! What a Bargain!
Review: Warner Bros. seems to have little clue about marketing their DC-based tv series. Whether's it Batman, Batman Beyond, Batman/Superman, or Justice League, they produced only substandard dvds to date. Now Justice League doesn't reach the level of some WB previous efforts, but it's far better than that sad excuse of a series, Teen Titans, now on Cartoon Network. I digress....

Anyway, I simply won't fork over money for this DVD containing a lousy pair of 2-part episodes. Come on, WB, either release season box sets or at least offer six episodes, which would be just over two hours in length. I suspect that some heads need to roll until WB realizes that they can both milk and nurture their fanbase, a win-win scenario for everyone. Until such a time, there's plenty else here at Amazon.com to satisfy everyone's DVD needs.....

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Boycott these DVD's
Review: When will WB get a clue and release box sets of their great animated Justice League, Batman or Superman shows? Nothing like alienating the fanbase by releasing 2-3 episodes on separate disks. Its greed, pure and simple. It's the same thing they did with the Scooby-Doo series of DVD's. Milk the heck out of Mom and Dad, who will buy anything their kids want and then after enough time has passed (and enough money has been made) release box sets of the same episodes, that the parents will buy again. It's a (...), there's nothing more to be said about it. Don't give WB your money. Boycott these sad DVD releases. The person or persons in charge of this release schedule should be fired.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Boycott these DVD's
Review: When will WB get a clue and release box sets of their great animated Justice League, Batman or Superman shows? Nothing like alienating the fanbase by releasing 2-3 episodes on separate disks. Its greed, pure and simple. It's the same thing they did with the Scooby-Doo series of DVD's. Milk the heck out of Mom and Dad, who will buy anything their kids want and then after enough time has passed (and enough money has been made) release box sets of the same episodes, that the parents will buy again. It's a (...), there's nothing more to be said about it. Don't give WB your money. Boycott these sad DVD releases. The person or persons in charge of this release schedule should be fired.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Warner Brother's DVD production..has not improved.
Review: With their Live Action Movies still stalled in development heck....Justice League has really become the only good production that DC and Warner Brothers have going for them right now. Paul Dini and his team of animators have more money to work with this time, and as such the look of the show and it's characters are much more detailed and have better movement, much like the early Batman; The Animated Series episodes were made. However the production of putting the episodes on DVD is taking much longer then many fans would like to see. This is the thrid disk in the Justice League DVD series and it only has two complete episode stories on it (Two part shows done to tell one story) and it really is not up to the high standards that other movie studios are doing with their DVDs. There should at least be a behind the scenes feature done with interviews with the animators and the actors who voice the JLA heroes. That would be interesting, but so far this has not been done.


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